Department of Health and Social Care

Abortion

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks ofLord Markham on 22 March (HL Deb col 441), how they reconcile his assertion that “the Government do not set policy" on foetal sentience with the provisions of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 which included the establishment of an animal sentience committee.

Lord Markham: The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs formulates policy on animal welfare. The Animal Sentience Committee holds functions relating to the effect of government policy on the welfare of animals.By contrast, the determination of foetal sentience and its implications for abortion and neonatal medical practice is reached through professional consensus and clinical guidance, rather than through policy. For example, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ most recent Fetal Awareness Evidence Review was published in December 2022, a copy of which is attached.RCOG Fetal Awareness Evidence Review (pdf, 623.3KB)

Integrated Care Boards: Finance

Lord Bradley: To ask His Majesty's Government what was the financial position of each integrated care board at the end of financial year 2023–24.

Lord Markham: The financial year-end reports for integrated care boards are still in progress and not yet finalised. We anticipate that final, audited reports will be completed and available in July 2024.

Abortion

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to remarks by Lord Markham on 22 March (HL Deb col 441), what is the legal or evidential basis of his assertion that the Government has a “duty of care not to legislate where other reasonable processes are available” and where this is further enunciated.

Lord Markham: When considering its approach to legislation, in all cases the Government must be guided by whether the aims of that potential bill can already be implemented through other reasonable and established non-legislative means.

Abortion

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government when they next expect to commission a foetal sentience evidence review and what organisations they will invite to undertake that and future reviews.

Lord Markham: The Government does not formulate policy on foetal sentience. The review and determination of foetal sentience and its implications for abortion and clinical practice is reached through professional medical consensus and clinical guidance.A recent and comprehensive review into Fetal Awareness Evidence was recently carried out by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Published in December 2022, the review concluded that evidence to date indicates the possibility of pain perception before 28 weeks of gestation is unlikely. A copy of the review is attached.As an independent organisation responsible for producing clinical guidelines and setting standards for high quality women’s healthcare, the Government recognises their clinical expertise on this matter.RCOG Fetal Awareness Evidence Review (pdf, 623.3KB)

Health Services: Staff

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact on the mental health and wellbeing of secondary care staff if their partnership with NHS Practitioner Health is ended after the 12-month review period.

Lord Markham: We recognise that the NHS Practitioner Health service is valued by many doctors. NHS England is reviewing the service as part of a wider review of its mental health and wellbeing offer to National Health Service staff. It was confirmed on 15 April 2024 that the service will continue to accept new patients from primary and secondary care whilst this review is undertaken over the next 12 months. NHS England will assess the impact and confirm future arrangements once the review has been completed.

Health Insurance: Private Sector

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government what regulations are in place to ensure that the care and treatment provided by private medical insurers are the most appropriate for a specific patient.

Lord Markham: Private medical insurers purchase services from independent sector providers who are responsible for delivering healthcare.All providers of healthcare are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall, while the General Medical Council is responsible for regulating doctors in the United Kingdom.

Health Services: Waiting Lists

Baroness Goudie: To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect updated NHS wait times to be published for 2022 and 2023.

Lord Markham: NHS England publishes Referral to Treatment Waiting Times data for elective treatment monthly in an online-only format, including for 2022 and 2023. There are no plans to revise waiting times figures for these years.

Ticks

The Earl of Caithness: To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the UK Health Security Agency reportHealth Effects of Climate Change (HECC) in the UK:State of the evidence 2023in January, what steps they are taking to inform health professionals of the heightened risk to public health of (1) Lyme disease, and (2) emerging tick-borne diseases, including tick-borne encephalitis, from an increase in the UK distribution of tick speciesas a result ofa warming climate; and what adviceare they providingto those exposed to this risk through work or leisure.

Lord Markham: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has an active programme to promote awareness of tick-borne diseases among local authorities, health professionals and the public by 2025 in line with the Third National Adaptation Programme. This includes Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis. UKHSA has worked to develop a toolkit for local authorities and key stakeholders to raise awareness of the potential risks created by ticks and tick-borne disease, a copy of which is attached. UKHSA also publishes Lyme disease data on Fingertips, which is an open access public health data platform which allows the public, health professionals, and local authorities to view trends, compare indicators and understand the incidence of Lyme disease in their area.Clinicians are also engaged via teaching sessions for General Practitioners, seminars for infection specialists, and briefing notes to notify clinicians of the possibility of tick-borne diseases, with detail of compatible signs and symptoms. Disease messaging is shared through media, social, and stakeholder channels at a national and regional level, such as the #BeTickAware campaign which aims to raise awareness in the population, including those at risk of exposure through work or leisure.Be_tick_aware_toolkit (pdf, 1180.9KB)

Department for Business and Trade

Electric Vehicles: Batteries

Lord Sikka: To ask His Majesty's Government how manyUK-based companies produce batteries for electric vehicles; and what is their collective capacity.

Lord Offord of Garvel: AESC currently has a 1.9GWh facility operational in Sunderland. The UK has a further 52GWh per annum battery capacity committed – 12GWh from the AESC Gigafactory under construction in Sunderland and a further 40GWh from the planned Agratas Gigafactory. This is over half the capacity needed to meet industry demand forecasts of around 90GWh by 2030.

Department for Education

Pupils: Databases

The Lord Bishop of Oxford: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they give third parties access to national pupil data or learner records, and whether they charge a fee for any such access.

Baroness Barran: The department will only share pupil, or learner, level data with others where it is lawful, secure and ethical to do so. Where these conditions are met and data is shared, the department do not charge any fee. All requests for data from the department are subject to a robust approvals process where senior data experts assess all applications for public benefit, proportionality, legal underpinning and strict information security standards. The approvals process where senior data experts assess all applications is known as the DfE Data Sharing Approval Panel (DSAP). The DSAP panel also includes external members who scrutinise the ongoing decision making in order to increase public trust. As part of the department’s commitment to transparency, it publishes details of all organisations it has shared personal data with alongside a short description of the project. This publication is updated quarterly and is available from GOV.UK at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfe-external-data-shares.

Education: Artificial Intelligence

The Lord Bishop of Oxford: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future use of artificial intelligence in education using national pupil data or learner records.

Baroness Barran: The department has conducted research and has a work programme around artificial intelligence in education settings. To date, the department has not used national pupil data or learner records in setting the strategy for the department's work in this area.

Northern Ireland Office

Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery

Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made in establishing and making operational the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery on 1 May, in particular with regard to (1) assuming responsibility for Northern Ireland Troubles reinvestigations from Operation Kenova and the Police Service of Northern Ireland,and (2)replacing inquests.

Lord Caine: As I set out in a Written Ministerial Statement on 17 April, I can confirm that the ICRIR’s operational functions will be commenced and the Commission will be able to receive requests and carry out reviews as planned on 1 May 2024 - the point at which the Legacy Act automatically ends current investigations and inquests. From this date, following a request in accordance with the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, the ICRIR will carry out reviews of Troubles-related deaths and serious injuries that occurred between 1966 and 1998.

Terrorism: Northern Ireland

Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress has been made on the memorialisation strategy for Northern Ireland.

Lord Caine: The Government is committed to the memorialisation measures set out in Part 4 of the Legacy Act and elsewhere. While our focus since Royal Assent of the Act has been on establishing the ICRIR, we know these wider measures are also essential to deliver for victims and families in Northern Ireland. Further to previous announcements on Public History and the project to digitise Troubles-related Government files, we will set out further details in due course.

The Senior Deputy Speaker

Palace of Westminster: Fire Prevention

Lord Rooker: To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what precautions are in place to prevent voltage surges entering the electrical system serving the Palace of Westminster.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Within the Palace of Westminster there is surge protection by way of Surge Protection Devices on low voltage switchgear. This means that any surges from incoming high voltage supplies are suppressed. The Palace’s main low voltage switchgear was replaced in 2015 and has such surge suppressors installed.Low Voltage Boards are a key part of the electrical infrastructure within the Palace of Westminster, providing localised power across the building. There have been two new local unit boards fitted in Elizabeth Tower and these have surge protection fitted, as stipulated by the Design Authority for new boards. Both boards tripped (as per design) when the tower was struck by lightning, showing the surge protection was successful. Surveys were undertaken of existing boards under the Mechanical, Electrical Public Health & Fabric Safety (MEPFS) programme and those ranked as high risk had faulty components replaced, thus reducing the risk of significant power outages across the Palace. Surge protection of these boards will be installed under the new Mechanical, Electrical, Public Health and Fire Safety (MEPF) programme which will be completed prior to the commencement of Restoration and Renewal.

Treasury

Multiple Occupation: Stamp Duty Land Tax

Lord Moylan: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they had with the "build to rent" sector to understand the impact of the proposed abolition of the Stamp Duty Land Tax Multiple Dwellings Relief announced in the Spring Budget, beyond the consultation from November 2021 to February 2022.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The abolition of Multiple Dwellings Relief follows an external evaluation which found no strong evidence the relief is meeting its original objectives of supporting investment in the private rented sector.Larger investors who purchase 6 or more properties in a single transaction can still continue to benefit from the non-residential rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax.The government will continue to engage with stakeholders in the build to rent sector to understand any concerns.